The meaning of Rei in the Bible
(From International Standard Bible Encyclopedia)
re'-i (re'i, "friendly"; Rhesei): Rei, Shimei and the Gibborim who belonged to David are listed among those who did not join Adonijah in his attempt on the throne (I Kings 1:8). The name is very uncertain. Winckler (Geschichte, II, 247) identifies him with Ira, the Jairite, who was a "priest to David" (II Samuel 20:26 the Revised Version margin); he tries to prove that this Ira (or Jair) was a priest of Bethlehem. Stade (GVI, I, 293, note 1) holds that Shimei and Rei were two officers of David's bodyguard. Josephus (Ant., VII, xiv, 4) has ho Daouidou philos, thus making Shimei a "friend," the courtier of II Samuel 15:37; II Samuel 16:16, and omitting Rei entirely. This would call for an original reading re'h ha-melekh, or re'eh ha-melekh, and is too wide a variant from the Massoretic Text. Assuming that Rei belongs in the text, it is safe to conjecture that he was an officer of the royal guard.
Horace J. Wolf
See more on the meaning of Rei in the Bible:
Rei {Easton's Bible Dictionary}
Rei {Hitchcock's Bible Name}
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